We passed through a long corridor. Its rich decoration and sleek furniture matched my earlier assessment of the infirmary. This was a grand manor house, though cracks marred the walls and windows.
It was nothing compared to what was missing inside me.
“The woman—the human woman I was with. Where is she?”
The silver-haired guard didn’t turn to me. “I was just ordered to bring you.”
“To bring me where?”
She didn’t reply.
Dimly, I noted the turnings we took and the ones we didn’t and counted the doors until we reached a large set of double doors with guards stationed on either side.
I frowned at their deepest blue uniform—the same colour as the armour Dusk’s guards wore. And on their chests…
Red, outlined with gold—a hydra.
Fuck. The iron was making me stupid. And Kat’s… absence had occupied the thoughts I had left. I hadn’t even considered who had attacked us.
Hydra Ascendant. And they had the Night Queen’s Shadow as their captive. Either I was on my way to my execution or they were going to torture then execute me.
I was still staring at the insignia when a tight knot of guards reached us and one stepped aside revealing— “Katherine.” My legs gave out, and I didn’t even care that one of my guards had to catch me.
Because she was alive.
Pale and wearing manacles as well as a shirt several sizes too large instead of her own, but alive.
She eyed me, frowning. “Are you all right?”
Of all the things, when she had been shot through the chest.
“I thought you were dead.” I finally let myself think the word I had been avoiding since she’d been hit.
She flashed a small smile. “So did I. They have healers who operated on me.” Her gaze fell to her hands, now unstained, and the smile faded. “Someone touched my blood and died.”
There she was, thinking of herself as a monster again.
I reached for her. “It’s all—”
“Silence.” A guard blocked me, then the doors swung open.
A long space. Originally a formal dining room, most likely. Glazed doors lined one side, facing the setting sun, casting the room in an orange blaze. I catalogued it all as the guards hustled us inside.
Kat was alive. That meant my plan wasn’t one for revenge anymore, but escape.
Even with the weakness in my limbs, I carried that idea in my chest, a beacon that filled me.
Gardens outside, but overgrown with ivy and shrubs that might have once been clipped into topiary. They’d provide cover.
“Well, look who it is.” A woman’s voice rang out across the room.
The blood in my veins froze.
That voice. Like Braea’s but higher pitched.
I knew that voice and the laugh that followed it.
The world shifted in and out of focus as I blinked at the table the guards led us to.
Behind it sat Princess Sura.
64
Bastian
“I killed you.” I didn’t mean to speak, but the thought came out as though saying it would remind the universe that fifteen years ago I had beheaded her. I swayed as a cold weight dragged on my stomach and the world spun out of control.
“Clearly, you didn’t do a very good job of it.” She bared her teeth and shrugged.
Wide-set black eyes like her mother’s, with paler golden skin. She’d tied her midnight curls into a high ponytail—a style I’d never seen her wear in Tenebris. Other than that one detail, she was just as I remembered.
That was the same head I’d taken. How? A changeling? Something else? Maybe this wasn’t even her. My mind tripped over itself, sluggish from the iron.
“Are you going to stop staring and introduce your little friend—bring her up to date?”
I swallowed and worked my tongue around my mouth, that sick feeling still coating my throat, thanks to the iron. “Katherine, this is Princess Sura.”
Slowly, her eyes widened and she dragged in a breath. She understood.
“Such a pleasure to meet any friend of Bastian’s.” Circling out from behind the table, Sura’s smile was too bright, too cruel.
I knew the kind of “pleasure” she meant. Chest squeezing, I tried to stop her reaching Kat, but a guard grabbed my shoulder.
Kat looked from the princess to me, head cocking. “How are you alive?”
“At last someone’s asking the important questions.” Sura clicked her tongue at me. “Really, Bastian, I always thought you were so bright.”
“Remove these manacles and I’ll show you how bright I still am.”
“Hmm, no, I don’t think I will. We need to keep those pesky shadows in check, don’t we? Not to mention, someone’s poison.” Eyebrow arched, she surveyed Kat. “An interesting little trick. One you won’t be repeating. The instant either of you try to escape, I’ve ordered my archers to concentrate their fire on the human. They’ll aim to kill, but with that many arrows, I don’t suppose it’ll matter. They’ll make a pincushion out of you. And humans are so delicate, even ones with poison in their blood.” Another bright smile. “Understood?”
With a glower, Kat inclined her chin.
I gritted my teeth, seething. “Why not just kill me?”
Her eyes narrowed on me, a long look of calculation. “Maybe I want you alive.”
They’d herded us. A good archer could’ve picked us off before I realised they were there. She’d had her healers save Kat’s life when it would’ve been significantly easier for them to let her go.
My lip curled. “And you want to use her to control me.”
“Ah, there’s some of that cunning I expected from the man they call the Serpent of Tenebris.” She spread her hands as if it was written on a banner before her.
“You heard about that, then.” I had only been called Serpent after her coup.
“Of course. Just because I’ve been absent, doesn’t mean I haven’t been listening. But, I forget my manners—I was answering dear Katherine’s question.” She perched on the table and waved the guards to one side.
With us both shackled in iron, she was safe.
For now.
One leg crossed over the other, she watched me closely. “A changeling worked for me. Caira. I loved her, and the damn fool loved me enough to die for me.”
Somehow that made it worse. In my childish act of swaggering victory, I hadn’t just thrown a head at my queen’s feet. I’d thrown the wrong head. That heaviness in my stomach expanded until I could barely breathe.
“And this is why you attacked the city?” Kat frowned. “How does killing civilians give you revenge against him?”
“What?” Sura glanced at the guards who waited off to one side.
“You didn’t know?”
Oh, she knew. She was just a good actress. Good enough to fool even Kat. I sneered, using anger at what she’d done to squash down my shock. “We found your people redirecting the Horrors to the city, so you can save yourself the performance.”
“Not my people.” She jerked her chin towards the doors, and two guards hurried out. With a deep breath, she gathered herself. “Look, this isn’t what I intended when I heard we’d captured you.”