“I wasn’t expecting to meet again so soon.”
“I have the answer you want.”
“I’m eager to hear it.” The man folded his arms. “Let’s hope this one is better than the last.”
“The Red Gate. It’s the only passage in or out of the desert to our south. If your men attack the ports with enough force, Blayne will dispatch the Crown’s Army to help. All we need is to get them through the gate, and then we can barricade the army in. The mountains, they aren’t like the ones in our north. They’re impassable—”
“An interesting theory, but already you have neglected one of your country’s most notable features.”
“What?” My skin was starting to heat, and my pulse rose. “What is wrong with this plan? You haven’t even let me finish!”
“The Red Tunnels, my dear. Or did you forget that your king has countless tunnels hidden away at the base of that infamous range?”
“I…” How could I be so stupid? It was how they named everything. The Red Desert. The Red Gate. The Red Tunnels. “I forgot.”
“Yes, well, a Pythian doesn’t forget his enemy’s best hand. Your boy king’s father made sure every one of us knew those were there. Just in case we ever considered raiding his south.”
I couldn’t bear to listen to the rest of the duke’s response. Frustration was a crushing blow, and it was building with every second that passed. I thought this time would be different. The last time we spoke, I’d been so built-up with rage I had shattered what should have been—according to all measurable accounts—an unbreakable glass. The indoor training courts had been treated with the best potions an Alchemy mage could brew.
Then I had tried to convince the prince to run away with me so I could leave everyone else behind.
“…Of course, our traders heard about them long before your Lucius ever started spreading the word. Some secret, when we had spies at all the ports…”
What would I do if Nyx didn’t find an answer? If—
“Three more weeks.” Cassius placed a meaty palm on my shoulder. “I want to help you, I do, but my hands are tied.”
“We could still win. Darren is the king’s best defense, and he will be blindsided. We could—”
“What did I say about begging, Ryiah?” The man released me with a sharp look. “This meeting is done.”
“Wait!”
He turned and looked me up and down. “Well?”
Say something. Anything. “Darren has a key.” I took a deep breath. “It’s new. His brother asked him to start wearing it because he didn’t trust your claims. Blayne is beginning to get suspicious.”
“Nothing you are telling me is helping your cause.”
“Darren said the key was a part of the Crown’s best kept secret.”
“And what is this secret?” The man continued to stare, unimpressed. “How is it going to help us?”
“I…” I didn’t—
Secret. Secret. Best. Kept. Secret.
That’s when it finally hit me. All of Commander Ama’s lectures. The desert. Red everything. And the irony was the duke had brought on the answer himself.
The apprentices had spent all summer discussing those tunnels; their mysterious location had even become a butt of a joke amongst the mages. Several had even gone so far as to speculate the untimely death of Ishir’s previous commander, a man who had taken ill only three years into his reign.
No one knows their location. Not the barons or lords, not even the regiment, only the current commander and the Crown.
Darren had believed I knew the answer because it was obvious—gods, even Cassius had spoken the secret aloud.
Secret.
The Crown’s best kept secret.
“It leads to a map to the Red Tunnels. The Crown’s best kept secret.”
The duke’s expression immediately changed. “Why didn’t you—”
“I didn’t know what it was.” My heart was beating so fast I was afraid it would burst. “But as we were talking… I-I’m certain! The desert commander always said that only she and the Crown knew their location. Everyone who dug the tunnels died long ago, and the commander has scouts patrolling the border to make sure no one knows where they are.”
“Surely the scouts know?”
“No, they are only assigned a territory to patrol. The tunnels could be anywhere between. Their location was only to be revealed if we went to war. So if we knew in advance—”
“We could use barricades like the Red Gate.”
“And the Crown’s Army would never expect it.”
“The passages are small. We wouldn’t need a lot of men to hold them off. We just need to know where they are.”
“Well, well.” Duke Cassius ran a hand down his yellow beard. “I do believe you’ve found an acceptable solution to our problem… But we are still missing one thing. The map.”
“I have three weeks.” Nothing would stop me from saving us all. We had a plan. Darren had the key. We had time. “I’ll get you that map.”
“Do you know where to look?”
I didn’t, but I knew who to ask.
“Crown’s ‘best kept secret?’” I scoffed as the prince and I returned to our chamber much later that night. “More like the most obvious. A map of the Red Tunnels?”
Darren grinned wolfishly. “And yet it still took you a day.”
“Well, I am a part of the Crown.” I picked at the sleeves of my underdress, trying to frame my next question just right. “Shouldn’t I have the privilege of knowing where it is? What if something happens?”
“What?” A smirk was making its way across his lips. “No trust in your husband?”
“You aren’t infallible.” I kept my voice light. “Even the Black Mage has his limits.”
Darren leaned against the wall, taking me in at a leisurely pace. “Do I, love?”
My whole body flushed. I hadn’t meant that.
“Or shall I show you?” He braced a hand against the back of my head, forcing me back. “Which one of us has the most potential?”
That last word was deadly.
Had it suddenly turned to summer, or was it just me? “If I win—” I swallowed, trying to remember how to breathe. How did Darren have this effect on me every time? Still? After all these years? “—you tell me where the map is.”
“Planning on turning a traitor?”
If only you knew.
“You know me so well.” I gave the prince a sultry smile. “I’m going to be a Pythian Queen.”
The corner of his lip twitched. “A shame King Joren is only seventy years young.”
“What are a couple of years when I can have all that wealth to myself?”
“If I had known you were this enthusiastic over Crown secrets, I would have given them freely a long time ago.”
“Oh?”
“Still”—his garnet eyes flashed—“it’s a shame you will lose.”
“We’ll s-see about that.” My response was breathless and rushed. Darren had me pressed against the door; a part of my mind was already gone, especially when he used his hands.
“If I win—” The prince gave me a crooked smile. “—what are you going to do for me?”
I looked up at him through my lashes. I was trying to remember why it was so important to win, but my senses were failing. “I’m sure you can think of something.”
Darren’s expression was devious. “Yes, I most certainly can.”
I won. It was the first time I had ever beaten the prince at anything.
To be fair, he had fallen asleep during a deliberately slow massage, but as far as I was concerned, it still counted.
“You cheated.”
“If you hadn’t enjoyed it, you wouldn’t have fallen asleep.”
Darren gave me a scowl. “I’ll remember this the next time we place a wager.”
“My prize?”
“Persistent to the end.” He leaned back on his arms with a groan. “Very well. Go on and marry your Pythian King.
The map is behind the Throne Room tapestry.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. Thank the gods he didn’t say his brother’s chamber. It would have been just like the gods to place the map in the one place I could never breach.
Darren mistook my silence for fear. “It’s the best location, love. The first place anyone would search is the king’s quarters, or the war chambers.”
Ha, I thought weakly.
“But the Throne Room? It’s brilliant. Hundreds of people can be in that room at any time and not suspect a thing.” The prince chuckled. “The only ones who can enter unattended are the Crown.”
I waited until he fell asleep. It wasn’t long; we were both so exhausted it could have just as easily been me.
Then I carefully, very carefully unclasped the chain around Darren’s neck.
For a moment, I just sat there, listening to the stammering of my pulse. Four months of plotting and searching and the crippling fear that this would all fall apart and now I finally had an answer.
The key was in my hand.
The whole of the palace was asleep… well, except the guards. But the only one I was truly concerned with was busy guarding the ambassador’s hall. Mira might not like me, but she distrusted the duke more.
I didn’t need to wait.
It was time to act.
“Your Highness? Why are you up at such an early hour?”
I gave the pair of guards the same explanation I had given the last. It was amazing how easy they took a crown princess’s word.
“The prince, he…” I clutched my cloak tighter in a show of modesty. I had deliberately left my hair tangled and willed myself to blush. “He worked up a bit of an appetite. I was hoping to get us something from the kitchens.”
“Ahhh.” There was a round of elbows and grins. “To be young again, eh?”
They continued to reminisce as I passed, never noticing when I ducked down the west corridor instead of the east.
And finally I was in front of the Throne Room doors.
Of the two guards standing duty, one was a knight I’d served with several times before, and the other, an easygoing Combat mage that hero-worshipped the prince.
I offered up some feeble excuse, pretending I had left something behind, and then I just strolled right into the room. My great betrayal of the Crown, and neither batted an eye.
The hall was beautiful. As I made my way across, little rays of sun were beginning to shoot across the chamber, the stained glass windows casting an ethereal glow along the marble and stone. I would have loved to watch, but every second that passed was another second before the rest of the palace awoke. In another ten minutes, the tower bells would toll for dawn.
I hurried across the rest of the room. The only sound was the hushed patter of my slippers and my own shallow breath.
All this plotting and worrying… I lifted a corner of the heavy tapestry, trying not to stare at the hand-woven crown with golden prongs and black hematite stones—the crest of the family I was betraying. I didn’t need to think about that now.
I tore my eyes away and shoved my second hand under the rug, feeling around with my fingers for a variance in the wall. My nails cut across granite, the rough stone an unpleasant sensation against the pads of my thumbs. I didn’t care. I ran my hand faster across the surface, glee taking over as my fingers caught against an uneven edge protruding slightly further than the rest.
I traced a rectangular outline of brick and then ducked under the tapestry, using both hands to tug the panel away from the rest of the wall.
For a moment, the brick held. And then, with the last contraction of my arms, it gave. A small plume of dust sprayed my arms and neck as I stared into a small crevice no bigger than a fist.
Inside that hole was an even smaller box with a lock. Nothing special, just a small gray box.
And I had the key.
With trembling fingers, I unlocked the box. It was a moment so simple and so important, that when it finally happened, it was hard to believe it was real.
A weathered scroll, wrapped in a simple slip of silk.
I snatched the map and shut the box, tucking it back into the crevice and then the brick. I stepped out from behind the tapestry, clutching the one thing that would save the world.
See Derrick? I’m going to save us. Look at me now.
I unfurled the map and sucked in a sharp breath. It was everything I knew it would be. A map bordering the central plains and the Red Mountains, small black squares dotting the range. All of the measurements precise, a number next to each, starting with the Red Gate.
The Red Tunnels and the key to winning our war.
I rolled the scroll back up with the key, sticking both into the empty sheath at my thigh.
The doors behind me were thrown open; a clap like thunder sounded as they hit the wall. The whole room quaked in response.
I dropped my skirts and my skin plummeted to ice.
“Well, well,” a familiar voice drawled, nasal and sharp, “what have we got here?”
I whirled around.
Mira blocked the entry with the king at her side. The two guards who’d let me in stood at their back, and there was a handful more behind them.
“Why don’t you tell us what you took?”
My gaze flitted from the mage to Blayne, and I swallowed, trying to ignore the frantic pounding in my chest. They couldn’t know. They couldn’t possibly know.
“I-I don’t know what you are talking about.” My fingers were clammy and blood rushed to my head.
“Oh, but you do.” The head of Blayne’s regiment took a step forward, cackling. “I just didn’t think you would be foolish enough to reveal your hand so soon.”
“I didn’t take anything!” I did my best to look annoyed, folding my arms and lifting my chin in defiance. “You are mad. You’ve always hated me—”
“And that’s what they all thought.” Mira’s eyes gleamed in the early morning sun. “They all thought I was wrong. Didn’t they, your majesty?”
My glance shot to Blayne.
“Please explain yourself, Ryiah.” The young king wasn’t looking at me like a friend.
“I only came here to look for a bracelet.” I let indignation and confusion sweep my tone. “I don’t know what she is implying.”
“At dawn?” The head mage snorted. “She’s lying to you, Blayne. I told you all along.”
“If you have nothing to hide,” he said coldly, “you’ll submit to a search.”
“Gladly!” I spat the word with as much indignation as I could, but my heart was racing.
Mira charged forward and tore off my cloak, thrusting her hand in every possible inch. Then she screeched and threw it to the floor.
“See?” My voice was shaky as I clutched my nightdress to my chest. “I don’t have whatever it is y-you are looking for.”
“I’m not done.” The mage snatched my wrist and called on two of her guards.
“This is indecent!” I struggled against their grip. “You can’t do this!”
There was a hushed collective of silence. Then: “Search her.”
The woman took a menacing step forward, and the guards tightened their hold.
“Let me go!” My magic bubbled to the surface like an overflowing fountain, fighting, cresting to break. “Let me go!”
“Get your hands off my wife!”
Darren. I stopped breathing as my husband shoved his way past the guards and spun on his brother. “What is this?”
“I summoned you here because there is something you need to see. Something to do with your wife.”
The prince laughed. He threw back his head and laughed, the sound echoing around the hall like a chorus. “Not this again.”
“I didn’t want to believe it either.”
“Because it’s not true!” I fought Mira’s grip. “She’s lying!”
Darren’s gaze returned to my guard and his hands balled into fists. “I’ll give you two seconds to step away from my wife
,” he growled, “before I slit your throats.”
I was released; I took a sharp, staggering breath. Breathe. Control. You can still find a way out of this.
The prince cut across the room, and I took a hitching breath.
“Darren—”
“Ryiah.” He shook his head vehemently and pulled me into his arms. “You don’t have to explain.”
“She’s had it in for me forever.” I clung to his shoulders, hating myself. “You know what she’s like!”
“I do.” Darren turned back to his brother. His whole body radiated rage. “This has gone on long enough, Blayne. Derobe that woman and toss her in the dungeons. I am done having Mira slander my wife.”
“Brother—”
“No!” Darren’s voice rose to a shout. “Do you have any idea what Ryiah has been through? Imagine if Derrick had been me, Blayne. This is unacceptable.”
“Brother.” The king’s cool eyes flashed. “Do you know whose idea it was to give you the key to the Red Tunnels?”
I felt the prince stiffen.
No.
“It was Mira’s.” Blayne paused as the truth sunk in. “Do you recognize this room?”
Darren’s pulse hammered against my own. And then it stopped.
“I don’t suppose you told her there was a map.”
“You gave me the key,” Darren’s throat was thick with emotion, “to test Ryiah.”
And I thought it was a gift from the gods. Fool that I was.
“Your wife’s been sniffing around the palace for months,” Mira snarled. “No one believed me, but then your rebel escaped and the Pythian ambassador stalled…” Her eyes gleamed. “Two coincidences. Ones a husband could easily overlook.”
“Even you admitted something was wrong.” Blayne’s gaze locked on his brother. “I didn’t want to believe Mira, but what other choice did I have?”
The prince’s grip tightened almost painfully. “Ryiah would never betray us.”
“There was never a key for the map, brother.” The king was shaking his head. “That isn’t even the true map. It’s in my chamber.”
It was a trap. All along.
Last Stand (The Black Mage Book 4) Page 15