Chapter 43

43

I n the middle of the night, the halls of Este Castle were eerily quiet. Viktor, Kaztar, Domi, and I tiptoed from the High House Wing down a passage toward a nondescript alcove. Memories of chasing Liliana and Izidora down this hall flicked through my mind, and a pang of longing and guilt settled low in my stomach.

This was for my sister.

The room where the young noble Fae gathered in secret was the only place I could think of where we wouldn’t be overheard by ears attuned to hints of treason in hopes of climbing the social ladder and securing a spot on the king’s council.

The runners lining the halls muffled our footsteps, and I breathed a sigh of relief when we arrived at the hidden door without incident. Viktor scanned our surroundings while I opened the door, ushering Kaztar and his wife inside. With one last glance, Viktor stepped backward, melting into the narrow passage with us. The door closed with a soft snick, and we threw up bubble lights to guide our way.

Silently, we trekked to the room where tables, chairs, and sofas sat haphazardly. The secret getaway from the terror that had reigned in these halls for far too long was thankfully empty. For the first time in months, my shoulders fell away from my ears and I felt as if I could breathe in the privacy and shelter this room provided. Casting more light around us, we pulled back chairs and faced each other across a worn wood table.

I rubbed my beard absentmindedly, trying to figure out how I wanted to express my concerns. Before I could speak, Kaztar turned to his wife, all semblance of cool collectedness disappearing like he’d removed a mask during a ball. “Domi, I want you to return home and stay there until I come to get you. It’s not safe for you here any longer.”

Domi scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “I am not leaving you.”

“Please, Domi,” Kaztar pleaded, sinking to his knees and bracing his hands and forehead on her thighs. “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to you,” he said, lifting his head and showing her the deep lines that anguish carved into his expression.

Her eyes were harder than steel as she glared at Viktor and myself, before returning to her husband. “If you had listened to me in the Iron Realm, none of this would have happened.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” Kaztar’s voice broke over the words, and his hair fell in front of his face as he dipped his head into his wife’s lap again.

Viktor and I sat in awkward silence during their exchange. Air stilled in my lungs as I waited to hear what she would say.

“What if something happened to you? Do you think I would be able to live with myself if something happened to you after I ran home like a scared little child?” she finally snapped, her anger still sharp as a knife.

“But–”

“But even if I did return home, we have no guards for the estate any longer. They’ve all been conscripted.” She ripped her ire in my direction.

I held up my hands in supplication. “If you wish to return home, I will send them with you. Kazimir won’t notice their absence.” It was true, and I was willing to lie about our numbers to protect Domi. Kazimir was too busy fucking his whores half the time to remember the might of his army, and at this point, I didn’t have much to lose. It was only a matter of time before my head rolled off the scaffolding and my body was tossed into the angry sea.

“Are you sure?” Kaztar asked, picking his head up and searching my face for any deception.

I blew out a breath, deciding it was time to share my worries. “I am certain. When do you think Kazimir is going to remember that Liliana refused to return with us? By all accounts, she was here when Ruslan, Izidora, and those other Dragons rescued Princess Gizela too. It’s only a matter of time before my father, mother, and I end up like House Zadik.” Voicing that statement settled a stone in my gut and made my blood run cold. Sure, I’d acknowledged it was a possibility in the back of my mind. But to speak the words aloud, to those who were closest to me, made them far too real.

Viktor visibly flinched beside me. Tibor and Renata were like parents to us, just as much as Kazimir, and losing them was fucking hard. Kazimir forcing us to watch their execution was what finally changed my mind about the whole situation. Thankfully, Viktor saw the truth about our friend after that, too. Or, former friend. He wasn’t the same male we’d known even a year prior.

“We won’t let that happen,” Kaztar swore, but I shook my head.

Slicking both palms over my hair, I sighed. “You can’t promise that, not without risking House Rass.” I tried and failed to keep the hopelessness from my tone.

“He’s right,” Domi pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest.

Viktor drummed his fingers against the table, thinking. “Kazimir won’t notice their absence, not with how many new recruits are coming in from the countryside. Take them, stay safe, and if we need to flee, we will at least have a place to go.”

“I can spare ten thousand. Can you house them?” I asked Domi.

She uncrossed her arms, rubbing her palms against her thighs before nodding. “I can find places for them.”

“Good. You should leave under cover of darkness. The new moon is in a few days. That will be the best time to go,” I said.

“We’ll need to send some of those who can do the spell Desmond taught them,” Kaztar insisted.

“That’s how they’ll have to leave regardless,” I replied. “We can’t have reports making their way to Kazimir about thousands of soldiers marching through the woods in the Night Realm away from the capital.”

Desmond’s magic trick was handy, I had to admit, even if the Mage was whispering maddening thoughts in Kazimir’s ear. Ever since he’d arrived, Kazimir had gotten so much worse. It was as if the Fates planted him in our path, trying to steer the outcome they wanted rather than the one the council fought for.

Sighing, Domi finally acquiesced. “Fine. But I want to be kept in the loop. I won’t stay there if I don’t know what’s going on.”

Kaztar lifted her hands and kissed the backs of them tenderly. “I promise I will write to you daily, my love.”

We lapsed into silence, so used to holding our tongues that none of us knew what to say next, or even how to express the feelings we’d buried deep in the recesses of our minds.

Finally, I shattered it with a shocking statement. “We have to stop Kazimir. He can’t be allowed to rule any longer.”

Viktor nodded grimly. “He called me to the harem room earlier. He wants to march on the Iron Realm, through the Zherzha Pass. I say we let him.”

“Fuck,” I swore, locking my fingers on the back of my neck and looking up at the ceiling while I gathered myself. “We’re all going to die there.”

“Not if we encourage him to fight on the front lines. He’s gone mad enough that with the right appeal, we can make it happen. Someone in the Iron Realm will finish him off,” Viktor argued.

At least I wasn’t the only one who’d thought through this plan.

“And you want to bet your life on it?” I snapped, unconvinced. There were causes worth sacrificing my life for – I’d once believed finding Izidora was one of them. This campaign against the other realms at the behest of Kazimir, though? Not how I wanted to die. Not something I wanted to die for.

“What other options do we have?” Viktor mumbled, turning his palms over and studying them. The dejection in his tone summarized exactly how I felt, and more stones settled in my gut as I looked at my last remaining friend.

He was right.

Our options were limited.

And in order to be free, we’d have to try to escape certain death.

A bitter wind ghosted over us, blowing our dark cloaks back as we slipped into the night. Domi yanked her hood higher, preventing the air from sweeping it over her head and revealing her long hair. Vaenor was nearly silent this late at night, and the lamps along the streets were dimly lit, allowing for the stars to breathe and be seen.

It was the perfect night for a surreptitious escape.

Our footsteps hardly made a sound against the cobbled paths, and the swish of our cloaks against them was quickly silenced as we buried ourselves deeper inside them. We ducked down a back alley littered with trash and discarded items, leaping over still puddles that reflected the stars above. Finally, after switchtracking several times to ensure we weren’t followed, we found one of the many cracks in the city walls and shoved through.

No travelers crossed our paths as we entered the forest, though the fires burning beside the barracks beyond were like a beacon. The woods were even silent around us, providing us with much needed cover should someone in a position of power within the ranks discover four hooded figures creeping through the night, and decide to whisper of them to their king.

I’d done too good a job at convincing them of our cause, and their loyalty remained firmly with Kazimir.

The day before, I’d pulled aside a small, trustworthy unit, instructing them to be ready to depart at the late hour under the new moon. They were a haphazard mix of skilled warriors and village watch, most from House Rass’s region toward the Crystal Realm. Those who left their families behind there were more than happy to accompany Domi to her home.

A dark figure strode toward us, picking his way through the trees with careful precision. Thousands of soldiers slipping away in the night would not go unnoticed, and noise was a sure way to draw attention in our direction. In the day, their absence could be easily explained away.

We stopped short of each other, slipping off our hoods to reveal our identities. Noiselessly, the captain jerked his head, indicating the direction in which Domi’s guards waited. We followed him a short distance, where spread through the trees, groups of leather-clad soldiers clutched their meager possessions and waited for their comrades to spirit them away in the night.

Viktor and I hung back, speaking in low voices with the captain while Domi and Kaztar said their goodbyes. A sniffle caught my attention, then a long, pained sigh. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched them embrace passionately, and then Domi backed away, her hand lingering in Kaztar’s until it was no longer possible for them to stay connected.

With a sharp salute, the captain left us, herding Domi toward a group of fierce-looking males. Her eyes never left Kaztar, even as they winked out of sight.

The High Lord threw up his hood, his head hanging as we began the trek back to Este Castle.

Probably barely seeing the ground beneath his feet.

His love for Domi was admirable, and as much as I appreciated that, the bachelor life was for me.

But what of Liliana?

My sister and Endre had grown close in their time together as we traversed északi, and now, they were reunited in the Iron Realm.

Would my friend marry her? Would she even want that? Would I ever see her again?

Those were the thoughts that plagued my mind as we crept down the streets of Vaenor. My mother and father were absolutely distraught, to this day, over her year-long absence.

At least I still had my father.

Glancing sidelong at Viktor, pity rose from within me. We’d lost his father on the battlefield in the Crystal Realm, a freak accident that had hardened him in his duty to take down the északi Empire.

But now?

We were both more than ready to betray our lifelong friend, the one we’d spent countless nights just like these with, out in the open, under the stars, huddled around a fire to keep warm as we searched for Izidora. That male was long gone, and sometimes I wondered if I ever really knew him in the first place.

Was it the binding magic that drove him into madness?

Or was the obsession with Izidora always there, and we’d swept it aside because of our constant duty?

I’d never have answers to these questions, and with a heavy sigh, I accepted that there was nothing I could have done in the past to change the present. But the future? That I still had control over.

The three of us parted ways before we reached the castle, not wanting to be seen together as we re-entered. A little-known servant’s entrance provided me entry, and I hoped I’d remained unseen. When the High House Wing came into view, I breathed a sigh of relief.

My mother and father didn’t even wake during my absence, and I thanked the Goddess for her assistance as I crawled back into my lukewarm bed. Tucking my hands beneath my head, I stared up at the ceiling, mind swirling with possibilities and plans to do what had to be done, until finally, my eyes grew heavy and I could keep them open no longer. And when I slept, I dreamed of my sister and a life where she was safe and happy.