Granted, archers meant I had to huddle behind upturned tables acting as makeshift barricades, but this was still the right side of the palace—as close to home as any place got. And the reports said there was less fighting on this side, which would allow me to move freely and get back to Dawn to find the king, while my other half searched for Kat.
Dusk guards acknowledged me as we waited for the barrage of enemy arrows to abate from when I’d opened the door.
“You holding up all right?” I asked the violet-haired woman sharing the table with me, as thud after thud struck the surface.
“Just another day at work.” She flashed a grin. “We’re expecting reinforcements soon. That’s what the messenger just said, anyway.” She nodded towards the lodestone.
“Good. Just hold on until then and you’ll flank them nicely. Plus, this is your home, not theirs. They’re in unknown territory.”
As she nodded, the arrows fell silent—no sense in wasting all their ammunition.
I waited to the count of ten, then sent out my shadows as I had at Dawn’s door.
This time, just as I charged, there was an answering cry from the opposite side of the gathered attackers. Our reinforcements.
“On me,” I shouted to the guards at the door and smirked as the attackers turned.
With their attention split, they fell under our wave.
I slashed and stabbed with my dagger and slid beneath a swinging blade, scooping up a sword from a fallen attacker.
Ascendants had stolen our blades—it seemed only right to take them right back.
Righteous rage burned through me, keeping me going as strike after strike missed or landed on my weapons.
My shadows tripped and jerked enemies off balance—imprecise actions that didn’t require much strength were easy while I focused on parrying and attacking.
By the time the last attacker fell, the breaths sawed through me. But I had no time for exhaustion.
I caught up with the highest ranking guard, a broad-shouldered woman with a scar on her cheek. “What’s our status?”
“Her Majesty’s safe. There have been a few attacks from the lodestones, but they appear to be testing our defences rather than actually trying to break through.”
As I thought. Sura wanted to secure Dawn and assassinate King Lucius. Question was whether they’d come for the queen next or wait until another day. If I had my way, they wouldn’t succeed with the king. And if she was here…
Well, no bargain bound me not to hurt her, did it?
“Good work.” I inclined my head to the guard. “We’ve got injured in the dining room and attackers just inside Dawn’s door. Get everyone evacuated.”
Before she could answer, I set off again. Still too winded for a sprint, I jogged through the familiar corridors until I reached my offices.
The wards on the entrance were intact. Either Sura’s people hadn’t reached here yet or they weren’t after my secrets. With her interest in the Crown of Ashes, I suspected the former.
I locked the doors behind me, grabbed my Shadowblade and Kat’s weapons from the desk, strapped them on, and strode into the secret passage.
Since I didn’t need to show her through the darkness, I could run to the courtyard.
A trowel and a trug sat on the bench, together with Kat’s gardening gloves.
The simple domesticity of it smacked into my chest. She had to be safe. Had to be. She couldn’t be in here gardening one day and then gone the next.
I wouldn’t allow it.
Squaring my shoulders, I listened at the other door. Aside from my spy, no one from Dawn should know about this place but just in case, I edged it open.
Another dark passageway led away. No sign of life.
Good.
I crept ahead, ears straining to catch any sound. Occasionally the shouts and metallic clang of battle reached through the walls. Other times, as I passed the peepholes, I caught the whispered conversations of folk in hiding.
Nothing of use.
At last I reached a door that led into a small office and eased out. No one here. When I closed the door behind me, it looked like part of a bookcase.
I snuck through corridors, getting my bearings. Although I’d spent little time in Dawn’s side of the palace, I’d pieced together plans based on my informant’s sketches and partial designs from various refurbishment projects over the years. It was amazing what you could find in architect’s sketches. Soon, I understood where I was and how to reach the throne room.
A couple of times, I came across Ascendants, usually in pairs. Seemed they were more focused on holding the lodestones and keeping the corridors clear so they could move freely.
That made my job easier.
Hide around the corner, send my shadows to knock a vase over, then while they were distracted, sneak out and cut the first one’s throat. That left just the second, and in a one on one fight, with shadows on my side, they stood no chance.
Arrogant, perhaps, but I’d spent years of my childhood training with a former general until I was ready to drop. Some days I had. Even then, he’d shown little mercy.
That had only come when he’d cut me from chin to gut.
He’d let me land a blow after that.
Let me. Like he’d had a taste of hurting me and realised he didn’t want more.
I swallowed and squashed the memory. This might be another attempted coup by Sura, but it wasn’t the time to dwell on my father’s death.
Years separated us now. Just like guilt and hate separated me from my athair.
I scowled down at the second guard’s body and the slash across his chest. My Shadowblade had cut clean through his leather armour, consuming the little power remaining from when it had been a living thing. The cut edges crumbled like ash, revealing the hydra embroidered on his shirt.
I blinked at it, something off now I took a moment to look more closely.
Gold glinted amongst the red stitches and blood, the same as the patch from the prisoner captured at the Solstice.
With a flick of my dagger, I cut away the embroidery. Thread made of gold and red entwined, whereas all the insignias and banners I’d seen at Sura’s palace depicted red hydras with gold eyes.
If she was telling the truth about the Solstice attack…
I scraped my thumbnail over the smooth, even stitches. Good quality, like Ari had said.
Ascendants had stolen swords on their raids… but there was potentially a “missing” order of guard weapons, too.
Was all this meant to look like Hydra Ascendant when actually someone else was behind it?
I didn’t have enough pieces of the puzzle to tell.
Whoever it was, they were still here, and I still needed to reach the king.
No matter who killed him—the result would be the same.
They’d blame Dusk.
91
Kat
Ari held the insignia up. “It’s the same as the one you brought me after the Solstice attack. Are these the same people?”
I blinked at the glittering hydra. Based on the information most people had, that seemed a safe assumption. There weren’t likely to be two separate threats, after all.
But most people didn’t have all the information, Ari included.
Sura had told me she hadn’t attacked the city, and I believed her, even if Bastian couldn’t bring himself to. Someone else was taking advantage of her rebel group to cover up their own identity and motives.