by Lucy Roy
“Florian had an antivenin at the ready,” he told her. “He, ah, expected you might try something like that. As for my intoxication level… suffice to say I wasn’t entirely forthright about how much I had to drink tonight.”
“Where have you taken us?” Aer asked. “And why poison us to get us here?”
“Time was of the essence and I ordered Jonas and Florian to get you both to safety by whatever means necessary,” Byrric said flatly. “We’re in the tunnels beneath your rooms.”
Aer chuckled darkly. “Your version of safety and mine seem to differ quite a bit, Commander.”
Jonas opened his mouth to add something to the conversation, perhaps defend Byrric, but was cut off when Freya wrapped a hand of magic around his throat, tightening dangerously. He fell back against the wall, his hands scrabbling uselessly against her power. It took all her willpower to hold him there as her body still felt beaten down, but she forced herself to hold steady. She let out a quiet sigh of relief when she felt Aer’s power join her own, bolstering her magic.
“We just…needed you to stay…silent!” Jonas rasped, his voice falling into a dreamy murmur under Aer’s magic. “She…was about…to scream—”
“Because there were dead bodies in the hall! My guards were out there—”
“Alive,” Byrric said calmly, as though she wasn’t currently strangling someone just beside him. “I assure you, they are quite alright.”
“What dead bodies? What’s happened?” Aer demanded, stepping forward, then faltered as he took in the expression on the commander’s face. Freya saw it the moment he did—dread, mixed with a small amount of fear.
Byrric exhaled a sharp breath, steeling himself for whatever he was about to say. “Empress Lessia and King Willem have staged a simultaneous coup. The humans and Jotnar joined forces not thirty minutes ago to take over the Lindorothian throne. The governors of all four realms have been killed. Isadora and Reginald Ristner have fled. Soldiers in the Jotunheim and Dystonian armies have overrun the city and begun taking prisoners.” He inclined his head toward Jonas. “Lord Edrin has defected.”
The words, clipped and matter-of-fact, hung in the air like lead. Each statement fell like stones in water, each one heavier than the last.
Freya felt sick as she reached out and grabbed Aer’s hand.
Aer paled as he clung to her hand. “My parents—”
“I took them out through the passageways,” Byrric told him. “We couldn’t risk escaping together and having all four of you in one spot, not until we were sure no one was following.”
There was a beat of silence as Freya and Aer digested the news they’d just been given.
“You can release Jonas now,” Byrric said quietly. “We are all on the same side.”
Struck dumb, Freya released her hold and leaned back against the wall. Aer did the same.
“What of the governors’ families?” Don’t let them be dead, she begged silently.
“The governors’ wives have been taken captive, along with any children who were present when the coup went on. The eldest son of Emric Bryton and the first daughters of Allanor were the only children who remained behind. The other sons and daughters had already left. Ana, as well,” he added, anticipating Freya’s next question.
“How did this happen?” Freya asked, clinging to the fact that her friends and aunt were alright.
“Lessia and Willem seem to have been colluding with one another for some time now,” Byrric replied. “It appears Willem has a strong desire to regain lands that were lost to the humans after the war with Jotunheim. Lessia has agreed to split the Lindorothian lands with him in exchange for his assistance eliminating the Harridan line.”
“It’s a farce, to be sure,” Jonas said. Warily, he stepped away from the wall he’d fallen against, rubbing his eyes as he shook off the remnants of Aer’s magic. “If she gives the humans any bit of Lindoroth, it will be the hottest parts of the Edhilian desert and nothing more. As yours was the first royal wedding since our three nations split entirely, I can only assume she saw it as an ideal opportunity to join forces with them. It is only because Lessia hasn’t yet suspected my intent to take her throne that we were able to come warn you.”
“Taking her— what are you talking about?” Freya demanded.
“Explain.” Aer’s expression hardened as he looked first at Byrric, then Jonas. “Now.”
Jonas and Byrric exchanged a quick look. When Byrric gave Jonas a small nod, Jonas took a deep breath and turned to face Freya and Aer.
“Freya, do you recall when I told you about my sister?”
“Yes, of course.”
“What I didn’t tell you at the time was that the male she’d been married off to was not a Jotnar. Lessia—” He paused, then closed his eyes and exhaled. “Isadora is my sister, Your Highness. Part of the reason I’ve come to Lindoroth is to find a way to get her back without drawing the suspicion of my aunt or the humans. If they knew what I was attempting to do, I’d be tossed in the dungeons of Madrya and left to rot.”
“But she’s human,” Freya replied dumbly. She chanced a look at Aer, who looked just as stunned as she.
Jonas shook his head. “Ten years ago, after my parents were killed, Lessia contacted Willem’s father, Christopher, under the guise of forging a stronger alliance with Dystone. She said she’d gotten word that the elves in the eastern lands had been more active than usual, leaving their shores and visiting other lands, and was concerned they might be planning to attack.”
“How would she know that?” Aer asked. “The elves have no contact with anyone outside of Avorell and sending scouts to spy on them is nearly impossible.”
“Which is why I should have seen it as a ruse from the start,” Jonas replied. “Alas, I did not. Unbeknownst to Christopher, she’d replaced the human Willem had been betrothed to with Isadora, glamouring her appearance to make her identical to the girl she’d replaced—a glamour so thorough she would appear to age just as any human would. When I questioned Lessia, she said she didn’t trust the humans, wanted someone on the inside. As Isadora is family, Lessia assumed she could be trusted to do just that.” He ran a hand across his jaw and shook his head. “My aunt has always been cunning, so I requested the position of emissary so I could attempt to keep an eye on Isadora during my legitimate visits to Dystone. Isadora and I connected the dots and came to the conclusion that Lessia had no intentions of allying with the humans.”
“Lessia wanted to conquer Dystone,” Aer murmured.
Jonas shook his head. “When I questioned her on it, she allowed me my misconceptions. I may be her family, but she trusts no one. After speaking with her tonight, it would appear this plan—ally with the humans to take over Lindoroth—had been in the works for some time now.”
“That is…” Freya shook her head, unsure of what words fit what she was trying to say. “Absurd.”
“My aunt is nothing if not thorough,” Jonas replied. “She’s had this plan in the works for decades and the human crown was all too willing to see it through.”
“You are Lessia’s nephew,” Aer said quietly, dropping Freya’s hand and stepping toward Jonas. “And you expect us to believe you had no knowledge of her true intentions before tonight? Not an inkling that she might have been colluding with the humans?”
“Whether you believe me or not is purely up to you,” Jonas replied. “All I will tell you is that Lessia and Willem are now in control of Lindoroth and your deaths and those of anyone who share your blood are currently their primary goal.”
“So your aunt doesn’t know you’re a turncoat?” Aer smirked. “Pity for her.”
“And lucky for the two of you,” Jonas snapped. “At this moment, she believes I and her guards are subduing you both so you can be brought before her and Willem for execution. We have very little time before she finds the trail Florian left behind and comes looking for us.”
“Wait.” Freya held up a hand. “You said Isadora fled. Why? If she was to
be Lessia’s spy, if she was to take part in such a complex scheme, why flee when Willem and Lessia attacked? Wouldn’t it have been safer for her to stay behind?” Freya asked. That fact was sticking in her mind as something that was illogical for someone who was supposed to be ensuring a thing happened, especially after she went out of her way to seek out Freya’s alliance when Lessia was upsetting her in the palace. The thought of the pretty, delicate queen being so thoroughly deceitful that she’d made Freya believe they could be friends was difficult to reconcile with the woman she’d spent the last week with. Something about it simply didn’t ring true.
“In short?” Jonas huffed out a sigh. “She and Reginald fell in love.”
“Of course they did.” Freya rubbed a hand across her forehead, pressing away the last of the throbbing pain left behind by the widow venom.
“Isadora wanted nothing to do with Lessia’s scheming, so each time I visited we tried to come up with a way to get her out of the betrothal. It was only after I heard news of your wedding that I thought it might be possible to hide her here. Reginald knew of our plight and had also been suspicious of his brother for some time. He agreed to help me get my sister to safety and take Lessia’s throne in exchange for helping him overthrow his brother.”
“He knew Willem and Lessia were conspiring?” Aer asked.
Jonas shook his head. “He had good reason to think Lessia had enthralled Willem and was attempting to take Dystone.”
Aer held up his hand. “Just so we’re clear, Reginald Ristner wants to take his brother’s throne and his wife, but in order to do so he must help you overthrow Lessia, yet in all of your scheming you missed the fact that Dystone and Jotunheim were colluding to take over my country? How—” He shook his head as words seemed to fail him.
“Why should we believe you?” Freya asked quietly. “The fact that you’ve allowed yourself to become so ensnared in this web of deceit makes me more than a little hesitant to trust what you have to say. As Lessia’s nephew, why wouldn’t she have told you her plans?”
“She trusts me only enough to gather reports from Isadora, all of which are mostly fabricated. It would be another decade at least before I gained a seat at her table.”
“I will vouch for Lord Edrin’s loyalty,” Byrric said.
“Because you’re all in on this together,” Aer said flatly, not bothering to hide his disdain.
“Not as thoroughly as you might think, but we’ll discuss the rest soon enough,” Byrric said sharply. “For now, we must get you both as far from Iladel as possible.”
“What of Isadora?” Freya asked. “You don’t seem to think she’s betrayed you, but do you know where she’s gone?”
“We believe Reginald managed to get her to safety, although we won’t know for sure until we rendezvous,” Byrric replied.
“Which will be where?” Aer asked.
“There’s a place deeper in the tunnel system, farther into the mountain, that the first king of Lindoroth designed as a safe room, of sorts. A very small group of the palace guard know its exact location.”
“King Eroan built this palace five thousand years ago,” Freya said. “How secure could it possibly be?”
“Those who are told of its location are forbidden to speak of it,” Byrric said. “I can tell you only that it exists, but I cannot tell you where. Those who are taken there and leave have no memory of their path to or from.”
Freya dropped her head to her hands, then leaned gratefully against Aer when he squeezed her shoulder. Her mind spun as disbelief and fear began to well up inside her, so much so that she felt her brain begin to fuzz over.
Byrric cleared his throat. “We need to go, so if it’s all the same to you both, I will answer the rest of your questions along the way.”
Freya and Aer looked at each other, and the fear and concern that swirled within her was clearly visible in his eyes.
Her prince placed a hand over her heart. “It will all be okay,” he whispered.
She nodded, then looked at her father.
“Lead the way, Commander.”
The four of them started forward, Byrric leading the way while Jonas brought up the rear. They walked in silence for a few moments, Byrric navigating them rapidly down one tunnel, then the next. Freya tried to focus on other things, on the fact that she and Aer were safe, that her family and friends were alive, but it was fruitless. She’d sworn to do right by Lindoroth, to be a strong queen who would protect her land and its people at any cost. She’d hardly been crowned princess for a night and already her life, her future, and her kingdom were threatened. All of the training she’d done with Byrric, Cina, and Ana, all the work she’d done with the marshals and the other students at Aldridge, suddenly seemed like child’s play in comparison to what they were facing now.
Chapter 49
As they walked through the darkened tunnels, Freya did all she could to keep her fear at bay, hating how thoroughly it was beginning to suffocate her.
Fear is healthy, she told herself over and over. It will keep you alive. We just need to regroup. Assess the damage and come up with a plan.
But despite knowing the logic behind those thoughts, she couldn’t help but feel as though she was failing some test she didn’t know she’d been given.
Sensing her distress, Aer slid his arm around her shoulders and touched a kiss to her hair.
“Stop that,” he murmured. “I see that look on your face, Valkyrie. You’ve done nothing wrong.”
“He’s right, Freya,” Jonas said from behind him. “You were hardly born when this plan began to unfold. Lessia waited until the revelers were nearly all intoxicated to the point of inebriation, about two hours after you both departed, and the guard was overwhelmed within moments. Nothing you could’ve done would’ve changed the outcome. That you’d already left is the reason you’re both still alive.”
“I taught you better than that, Freya,” Byrric added, not slowing his pace or even turning to look at her. “The smartest thing you could’ve done had you stayed at the party was flee.”
“Is that what you did?” Her words came out more accusing than she intended, but she found it hard to believe that the king’s commander would’ve fled a fight in his own castle.
“Yes,” he said without an ounce of shame. “We were overwhelmed, Freya. My duty is to this land, as you well know. Keeping its leaders safe and alive is my top priority and remaining to fight a battle that my soldiers and I would not have won was not an option.”
While she couldn’t ignore his reasoning, Freya still struggled to reconcile the male before her, the one who’d raised her with a blade in her hand with the one who hadn’t stayed behind to fight for the safety of those who remained in the palace. She looked for another way, something she might’ve done differently had she been in his shoes, but no alternate solution came. She let that thought soothe her a bit, allowed it to make her feel a bit better about leaving now.
Byrric led them around a few more turns before the tunnel began shifting downhill. Several more minutes slipped past in silence before they came to a dead end. Byrric touched a spot in the center-right of the wall before him and pushed. A moment later, the wall swung inward, revealing a gaping hole. Freya could just barely make out a lichen-covered wall on the other side.
Byrric waited until they were all through before closing the door and leading them toward a fork in the path.
“Wait.” Freya paused as the scent of nitre and dirt reached her. “This is the garden tunnel. How—?”
“I believe you two may have missed a few doors in your meanderings,” Byrric said dryly.
“So it would seem,” she murmured, sliding a look to Aer. They hurried after Byrric as he strode briskly down the tunnel, then down the path they hadn’t explored on their previous trip through, the one that smelled like iron and rot. Freya wrinkled her nose against the assault as she was overcome with a sudden desire to flee to the gardens and suck in precious breaths of fresh air.
The
cave walls and floor grew slicker and the smell more putrid as they walked. She began to hope her father had a better plan than having them hide out in a sodden underground passage until their enemies were dealt with.
The mixture of fear, anger, and annoyance that had been percolating within her since the appearance of Florian and Jonas began to boil over the further they walked,. The space was becoming smaller, more narrow, forcing Aer to release her hand and walk in front of her instead of beside, his head ducked to avoid knocking against the slick stone ceiling. Byrric’s stiff uniform scratched softly against the walls as his broad shoulders took up almost the width of the passage. Lifting her hands, she let her fingers drift on the stone as she walked, feeling the distance, reassuring herself that she still had room to move.
She could hear Jonas’ ragged breaths behind her, so she could only assume he was struggling with the close quarters as well.
“There’s a thing I do, Jonas, when I begin to feel cooped up. Would you like to see?”
“Yes, I believe I would,” he said shakily. “I’ve never been one for tight spaces.”
“Nor have I,” she replied. She reached up and gently brushed her fingertips against the roof of the passage that was now hardly a foot overhead. She pushed her magic against it, using more force than she normally would now that they were deep within the mountain, until the stone seemed to dissolve and only the lavender, pre-dawn sky stretched overhead.
Byrric gave a startled grunt while Aer reached back and brushed her hand gently with his. Jonas let out a quiet breath of relief, one she was sure he intended to conceal.
“Not much further,” Byrric grumbled. “There’s a chamber just up ahead.”
Moments later, Freya heard the murmur of voices. An opening appeared in the corridor ahead, and a space, faintly illuminated with flickering light, lay beyond.
When they stepped through the archway into a wide cavern, Freya instantly scanned the faces in the room, needing to see for herself who’d gotten out.
There were about thirty people by her estimate. Laz and Collin were sitting against the wall leaning against one another, hands clasped between them. Their eyes, filled with devastation, stared blankly ahead. Lea and Myria sat nearby, tears flowing silently down their cheeks as Lea held Myria in her arms. Isadora sat beside them, her pretty pink dress mussed with dirt and blood, her hair hanging limply at her shoulders. Reginald stood sentry above them, arms folded tensely as he surveyed the room. Ervic, Rissen, Cecilia, Rodrick, and Perinald hovered about with a dozen other palace guards. Her and Aer’s guards still looked a bit worse for wear after being attacked in the hall, but they were alive, which was all that mattered. About two dozen others were also present, but Freya couldn’t tear her eyes from the small cluster of people at the back of the room.