But her words had some effect on Nadia, as well. She looked stricken, frozen in place, her eyes staring unblinking at the pieces of paper that floated down from Mina’s hands. “You’re right,” she said tonelessly. “I’ve been trying to write that letter all night, but it feels like drawing blood.” She shook her head. “I tried not to let it bother me before, but now…”
Mina tried to remain disgusted, but all she could think was that they were both traitors, both tools her father had used to reach the girl he’d created. And now Lynet was gone, leaving them both alone to face what they had done. Mina had betrayed Lynet for a crown, and Nadia had betrayed her for the university. But how could Mina blame her too harshly for wanting to get away from this miserable place and go somewhere warm? At least one of them could still do it.
“I’ll give you what my father promised you.”
Nadia’s head snapped up. “What?”
“I want you far away from here. I’ll leave a sealed letter and a purse with the steward for you. The purse will take you south, and the letter will grant you a place at the university. My only price is that you leave by dawn and never come back.”
“But Whitespring—”
“We survived without a surgeon before my father found you.”
Nadia was silent for a long moment and then shook her head, resolute. “I can’t go until I know what’s happened to Lynet.”
“Lynet is beyond your reach and mine.” Mina swept past her, kicking aside the scattered pieces of paper. “Remember, I want you out of Whitespring by dawn. Don’t let me find you again.”
“She wanted to run away,” Nadia called after her, and Mina froze. “She wanted to go south with me. She told me that before the accident.”
“And do you think she’ll make it all that way on her own?” Mina said.
Nadia didn’t answer, and Mina knew they were both thinking that for all of Lynet’s restless energy and reckless habits, she was still a sheltered girl, beating at the bars of her cage.
Mina left the room without interruption this time, but once she was out of the surgeon’s sight, she stopped and leaned against the wall of the stairwell, her knees shaking. As soon as she’d known that Lynet hadn’t gone to Nicholas, part of her had guessed that Lynet had left Whitespring. She had pushed the thought aside, to the very back of her mind, not because of fear, but because of the far more shameful feeling that washed over her now—
Relief.
*
“Isn’t it better for you that she’s gone?” Felix asked her when they were in the chapel again. “Isn’t it safer that you never find her?”
“No, Felix,” she said, but of course she knew there was truth in his words. Lynet was gone, but at least she couldn’t tell her father about Mina’s secrets.
She breathed in. I’m safe.
And out again. But Lynet’s in danger.
Even when she shut her eyes, she could still see Lynet’s face, holding her hand up to her cheek in pain and shock as a piece of glass struck her—
Somewhere underneath her skin, Mina could feel every sharp piece of glass scattered throughout the room. She concentrated on them, knowing she would need them to give her strength to accomplish this next task, and they started to move, to slither across the ground and join each other. Felix stood watching beside her, his mouth hanging slightly open in awe as one by one, the puddles of liquid glass stretched up from the ground and formed his new brothers.
There were a dozen of them, the same number as in the king’s guard, all with plain, unmemorable faces. She was rushing, though, so some of them had scars similar to the ones on Felix’s arms. Mina clothed them in the same white-and-blue uniform as the king’s guard, as well, instilling in them one purpose: to find the princess and bring her back to Whitespring. She told them to search the woods south of Whitespring, to keep watch over the town in case she surfaced there. Under no circumstances were they to hurt the princess.
“Go,” she told the soldiers, her chest aching from the effort of creating so many people at once, and they marched away, with Felix in the lead.
She had thought she’d feel more at ease once she’d taken action, but Mina couldn’t stop wringing her hands. If anything happened to Lynet outside the castle walls, it would be her fault. Mina was the one who had scared her away. And I’ll be the one to bring her back again, she promised herself.
But a treacherous whisper added, And then what will you do with her? Lynet knew about her heart, and she knew about Felix. How could Mina ever trust Lynet again now that she’d been turned inside out, her rotten core on display to the only person who had still thought she was perfect?
20
LYNET
Lynet stumbled in the darkness, her only guidance the patches of moonlight that broke through the trees. She didn’t think about where she was going but tried to keep to the main road. She didn’t think about what she was leaving, though she kept glancing behind her, sure that the huntsman had changed his mind and was coming after her. She only focused on moving forward, ignoring the tightness in her chest, the lump in her throat. This is what you wanted, isn’t it? she kept thinking. You’re free now. You can be whatever you want to be.
But surrounded by towering pine trees, she didn’t feel free. She felt like a coward, running from the first sign of danger.
With each step, the coins in the purse clinked together, and Lynet had to try not to flinch as she remembered the sound of the shattering glass in the chapel. She kept telling herself it wasn’t true—that Mina loved her, that she hadn’t sent the huntsman to kill her—but the weight of the purse the huntsman had given her was a constant reminder. She lost track of how long she’d been walking, but she knew if she stayed on the road south, she would make it out of the woods eventually, and then she’d arrive at the town of North Peak. That was assuming, of course, that no wild animals attacked her in the woods. Like my father, she almost thought, but she forced it to the back of her mind. There were too many dangerous thoughts, and she stepped around them as carefully as she could, like she was navigating through a field of traps.
Soon, she promised herself. Soon she would reach the town, but she wouldn’t stop there, she would keep going—
Go where?
South, of course. She’d go south, just as she had planned. She would put as much distance as possible between herself and the events of this night, until she forgot her old life and became someone entirely new. That was what she had wanted—the freedom to shape her own future. There was nothing to fear, nothing to regret. I wanted this, she reminded herself again. And every time she stumbled in the darkness, or wondered if she’d heard something growling, or remembered the look on Mina’s face in the chapel, she just repeated it once more. I wanted this.
She was still saying it to herself when she felt rough hands grab her, one arm encircling her waist while the other held something sharp to her throat.
He found me, she thought, but the voice that spoke didn’t belong to the huntsman.