“This is absurd!” Yuri shifted backward. His neck and ears flushed red.
“She was with me,” Anton said, more to himself than anyone else. “My mother had taken up the custom of bidding me good night to make up for all the times she couldn’t. After she spoke with me, she went to see Valko. I was on the verge of sleep when I heard shouts to summon a physician. I ran into Valko’s room and . . . I was with him when our mother drew her last breath.” The tendons of his throat contracted as his eyes flashed to Yuri. “Tell me you didn’t do this.”
The soldier’s beard trembled near his mouth. His aura nearly buckled me over with grief and madness. “The revolution was at a standstill,” he said, his confession pouring out of him. “Nicolai was scarcely persuading any nobles, and you denied Feliks his desire to gather the peasants for a public revolt. Meanwhile, the empire grew stronger, more oppressive . . .” He shook his head in misery. “I found out from another guard that Valko forced himself on Pia,” Yuri finally admitted, as if that were the root of his justification.
I blinked. Had Yuri known all this time what Pia had labored to conceal from him? The truth made my heart ache for my friend.
“I was incensed!” Yuri said, and gave Anton a pleading look. “I wasn’t thinking clearly. But I swear to you, I never meant to harm your mother.”
The prince’s brows were unflinching. “You didn’t harm her, you killed her.”
Yuri dropped his chin. His wretchedness was palpable as he lowered his gaze. “Forgive me,” he whimpered.
Anton’s diamond-hard aura locked my knees and straightened my spine. “You are to leave this palace, leave Torchev,” he commanded. “I don’t ever want to see you again. And you will not lay a finger on my brother.”
“But . . .” Yuri’s eyes rounded. “He killed Pia. He’s killed thousands. He deserves to die.”
“Valko will face trial, and his fate will be determined by the voice of the people, not you.”
A wave of hurt crashed over Yuri. He flared his nostrils. “You are not my superior. You taught me that. You cannot order me in anything. I will have my way with Valko, and you won’t be at liberty to stop me.” He grabbed my arm and yanked me to the wooden door.
“Let her go!” Anton rattled the bars.
Yuri whirled on him. “We all have a price to pay for this revolution. You taught me that, as well. This is hers.”
The wooden door flew open on its hinges—but not by Yuri. A bleary-eyed hulk of a man burst inside. His gaze riveted on the ring of keys dangling from the prison cell’s lock. Yuri reached for his knife, but the man—no doubt, the jail master—already had his dagger unsheathed. With one clean swipe, he dragged it across Yuri’s throat. I cried out as my captor crumpled over. His knife tumbled across the floor until it clanged against the iron bars.
My body seized with terror. My pulse flooded my ears. I spun to face the jail master. He would show me no mercy. His entrails would be ripped from his body if Anton and Tosya escaped under his watch.
The jail master advanced on me. His dagger dripped with blood. I had no weapon. Yuri’s knife was out of reach. Still, it was my only hope. I turned to dive for it, but it was gone.
A fleshy thud punched the air. The jail master gave a harsh, stunned grunt. I drew in a shocked breath and clutched my stomach, momentarily feeling his pain. Eyes bulging, the man careened over as his life drained out of him. I shuddered and looked about me, trying to make sense of what had happened.
Anton—the pacifist prince—was on his knees, one hand grasping an iron bar while the other jutted past it, fresh from flinging Yuri’s knife.
Tosya’s expression of amazement surely reflected my own.
“Anton,” I gasped, marveling I was alive and, moreover, that he had actually killed someone to save me.
“You must go.” His face was ashen at what he had done. “Others will soon be coming.”
I knelt before him on the other side of the bars. I wrapped my fingers around his shaking hands. “I won’t leave you.”
A dull roar filled the air. Dust fell from the mortar of the stone-lined ceiling. Anton swallowed and looked from me to Tosya, who glanced upward. “It has begun.”
I regarded both of them, knowing they were trapped here while I was free, that they were willing to die for this mad dream—a dream neither one of them had wanted to end in violence. The least I could do was honor them by trying once more to end Valko’s reign peacefully. I would be risking my life, but it had always been at risk . . . from the moment I’d committed myself to the revolution, and even before when I was brought to the palace in forced servitude. In truth, my life was compromised when I was born an Auraseer. This was my opportunity to break the chains. Or die trying.