But my hand stilled. I couldn’t.
I slumped to the wall, letting the two rebels pass. Jacob’s knowing smile caused a burning rage to sweep up deep inside, but to see my brother… my brother was all I could think about.
A shout and then a thundering boom.
Jacob and my brother were sent flying against the dungeon door. There was a loud, splintering crack of wood.
I heard the sound as running steps drew closer, and I forced myself up. I made no move to form a casting as I stood in front of my brother and his friend.
“STOP!” Darren’s voice shot out. “ANY FURTHER AND I CAST TO KILL!”
The prince reached the end of the hall and recognition flared in his eyes. “Ryiah?”
“Darren…” My voice broke. “Please.”
He stood frozen in place.
“Please don’t let my brother die.”
The prince’s gaze never left my face.
He stepped to the side.
Jacob finished pulling Derrick to his feet, and then they were off. Twin sets of footfall racing down the hall.
Darren never made a move to stop them. He just stood facing me, his chest rising and falling with my own.
He chose me.
The words filled me, warmed me, made me whole. I couldn’t speak, but it didn’t matter. Darren reached out his hand and I took it.
And then a flash of white lit up the hall.
I started to run, cutting across the corner to find Mage Mira standing above two crumbled bodies, twin burn marks protruding from their chests. Directly at the heart.
Lightning still crackled just below her nails.
“You missed something,” she said.
And then I started to scream.
****
“She tried to stop them and she hesitated—you can’t blame her for not killing her own brother!”
“She would have let them escape, Blayne!” the woman screeched. “She’s no different than a rebel herself!”
“If that had been Marius—”
“And he were a rebel?” The woman sneered at the young man. “I would have put a blade through him myself!”
“Blayne!” The young man was pleading. “If it were you I never could have done it—”
“Because your king would never be so foolish!” The woman snorted. “And you were with her—”
“I was trying to stop her! Ryiah’s magic is just as good as my own, and she caught me off-guard. We were at a standstill when the boys escaped—”
“For all we know you were helping!”
“ENOUGH!” The third party roared. “I’m trying to think.”
“It’s Ryiah, Blayne! You know her. She fought to save Wren and father during the attack! She lost her brother today. She made a mistake, but she would never be one of them. Please, don’t hold this against her!”
Silence, then: “We will not hold Ryiah responsible for last night’s actions. The distraction the rebels caused in the gardens was done without her help. Her rooms were already searched—”
“BLAYNE!”
“Silence, brother. They came up empty. All the guards report no unusual activity, and her past actions demonstrate nothing but loyalty to the Crown. Her knight reports that the young woman has never been approached, and her family is loyal to the Crown.” He paused. “That said, I believe the Caltothians are recruiting at least some of their rebels from the border. The boy and his friend were both serving in the Ferren’s Keep Regiment. Since it appears Commander Nyx was not aware of her men I would like you, Darren, to send your top men to investigate. Marius had no luck locating the rebels but I trust you will be more thorough.”
“Yes, brother.”
“And Mira, write to your brother in Langli. Tell him I want him to return to his investigations in the south. He might not be the Black Mage any longer, but I need all our best men on the job.”
“Yes, your majesty…”
****
One day screaming and dying in bed. One day of rejecting the truth, burning it, tearing it right out of my lungs, and feeding it to the shadows that chased me as I slept.
Tears were stinging my eyes and a burning hate was strangling my lungs.
For one day, I allowed myself to shatter.
I wanted to lose. I wanted to let the darkness take me right there. But I couldn’t. And so I took the potions the healers offered me. I listened when the boy begged me to eat. I smiled when all I wanted to do was scream.
And then I begged to leave the very next morning. It didn’t matter that I was on the verge of losing myself to grief, it didn’t matter that I was breaking, that I could barely go a second without my heart screaming his name.
I still had to tell them.
And it couldn’t come as a letter. It couldn’t wait.
Even if I was never ready. I couldn’t give in to grief. Not until then.
But I needed to do it alone.
He understood. And so did his brother.
****
The five days’ ride to Demsh’aa was the hardest of my life. I rode on with four guards at my back and Paige at my front. Since the rebels had attacked the Crown not once but twice in the last couple of months I was far too valuable to have just one guard in travel.
Let them try.